The recreational or sport fisherman has available a wide variety of weighted body artificial fishing lures that can be employed to attract and catch fish. One common family of weighted body lures is known as "jigs". Even though the configuration of the lure described in this disclosure could be classified as a "jig", it is demonstrated in this form only for convenience as its features can be adapted to other types of lures that utilize a weighted body.
Generally, a jig consists of a hook with a metal body cast around a hook with the eye of the hook, for line attachment, protruding at the leading end of the body and the hook shank and bend protruding out the rear of the body. There is usually some mechanism, e.g. socket in the body or collar around the hook shank, available to attach multiple strands of body filaments such as hair, feathers, rubber strands, etc. so that they surround the shank of the hook and extend beyond the bend of the hook. These body filaments simulate the body of fish forage, e.g. minnows, crayfish, etc. As the lure is erratically pulled through the water, the filament provides what can be described as a "swimming" action resulting from the alternate compacting and relaxing of the filament bundles due to water force generated as line retrieval force is alternatively applied and released. This "swimming" action is a desirable and sought after attribute for most types of fishing done with jigs.
Some known jigs attempt to be "weedless" by providing additional, somewhat stiff, protective members such as wire, a heavy plastic strand, or a bundle of filaments inserted in the jig head and so located as to attempt to protect the hook's barb from entanglement in weeds, brush, etc. These known attempts have not been successful in providing a truly "weedless" jig. One reason is that, when left to sink, most jigs known in the art will come to rest on the bottom haphazardly, usually lying on its side, with the hook barb subject to entanglement with weeds, brush and debris despite the presence of known "weedless" features.
Further, most jigs fall rapidly, head first, as the attached filaments known in the art do little to retard the rate of descent. In some instances it is more desirable to have a jig that descends relatively slowly.
It is also common for fisherman to enhance the fish-attracting capabilities of the common jig. One way is to dress or enhance the jig by threading a plastic twister tail grub or worm around the shank of the hook so it will trail behind the jig. Unfortunately, the plastic grubs and worms that are threaded on the jig's hook shank are easily dislodged from the preferred functional location away from the hook. In fact, enhancements used in this known manner actually foul the hook after the normal jig comes in contact with the bottom, brush, weeds, rocks, etc. which push the enhancement onto the hook. Fishermen also dress the jig by impaling live bait, e.g. minnows, worms, eels, etc., on the hook, but due to the aforementioned lack of protection, even bait is easily torn loose by weeds, brush, rocks, bottom debris, etc. and lost.
Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide an artificial weighted body fishing lure such as a "jig" that exhibits several exceptional properties. Some of these properties are as follows:
A lure whose body filaments not only provide the desired fish attracting "swimming" action, but which are uniquely constituted and arrayed in a unique conical fashion to make the lure inherently weedless by protecting the hook barb and any enhancements from debris;
A lure that, when in contact or at rest on the bottom, will tend to roll-over with the hook upwards due to the manner in which the conical body filament is arrayed in conjunction with the shape and weighting of the body;
A lure that will descend, without line tension, at a relatively slow rate due to the conical array of the body filaments;
A lure that has a bayonet inside a protective conical body filament arrangement for attaching fish attracting enhancements such as a twister tail grub or worm without impaling them on the shank of the hook; and
A lure that protects live bait from entanglement and removal in brush and weeds when the bait is impaled on the bend of the hook.